I am writing to you on my first day at Carnegie Mellon to let you know how very pleased and honored I feel to be your new president.

In the months since the announcement of my appointment, I have been privileged to receive many messages from colleagues at CMU and from alumni and friends of CMU from across the U.S. and around the world. During my travels over the past several months, I heard accolades and praise for CMU, its amazing reputation, its stellar faculty, and its many contributions to research and education that have transformed society. Much of this I knew already; indeed, it is a core reason why I was excited to have the opportunity to lead this great university. But, I also realized how much I have yet to discover about CMU.

My first job, then, is to listen and learn, and I will be spending much of my first few months here doing just that. We are at work scheduling opportunities for me to meet with alumni, students, faculty, and staff. My aim is to hear about you, your work, and your vision for CMU. Details of these meetings will be announced as soon as possible.

In the meantime, you may send me your thoughts and comments at www.cmu.edu/president-suresh. I look forward to hearing from you. I may not be able to respond personally to every comment, but your insights and ideas will be extremely valuable to me.

I will also be spending considerable time working with the academic and administrative leaders of the university. I am grateful to have the benefit of their experience, expertise, and guidance to provide continuity of leadership during this period of transition. As part of this listening tour, I will also look forward to various formal and informal meetings with groups of faculty, staff, students and alumni over the next few months.

My wife, Mary, and I are very grateful for the warm welcome we have received from everyone. We also wish to express our deepest thanks to the CMU Board of Trustees, the senior leadership team, colleagues from various campus groups, and Jerry and Maureen Cohon, for their many thoughtful interactions that have made this leadership transition very smooth.

If you see me on campus, across town, in your department, or at a meeting in some part of the world, I hope that you will feel free to introduce yourself and engage in conversation. I am eager to get to work and to begin to explore with you how we will together create the future at this great university.